Celtic has been rocked today by allegations that they are at the centre of a global network of high seas pirates responsible for terrorising travellers, causing problems for navies and possibly assisting in smuggling and even international terrorism.
We asked our go-to guy for all things Celtic—our in-house expert on the club, Billy King from Larkhall—for his opinion on a number of pictures circulating in the media and elsewhere. And even this writer, who has covered all manner of scandals, was shocked at what he found.
The footage that has emerged is of Greg Taylor and Luke McCowan on the high seas, supposedly holidaying with the season behind them.
That story was offered to us a few days ago, but even our editors didn’t believe there was anything worth covering unless they were involved in some sort of illicit activity—so that’s what we went out to find evidence for.
And after we showed them to Billy King, he was adamant that they are. He lays it all out for us in a story that will send shockwaves through Celtic Park.
“Is it a coincidence they were pictured in an area notorious for its history of involvement in piracy, and where there are still monuments to the dark days when the Barbary raiders and others frequently marauded up and down the shoreline? And this comes as a spike in high seas piracy has been reported all across the world,” he said.
“Now, it could be that they’re there for a family holiday, as has been claimed, but it’s highly suspicious that they would choose that area. That they would choose to be in that location, where there are museums containing artefacts from that time, and where you can even go and tour pirate coves and other areas.
“The fact that they were pictured on a boat is basically just their cheeky way of advertising what it is they’re actually up to. And since both of them are technically still Celtic players—although Taylor is said to have one foot out the door—you have to wonder if the club itself is involved in this. If the club itself is, in fact, at the centre of the global spike in high seas criminality.”
Further investigations by this writer have served to confirm our worst suspicions. I called one local museum with a section of pirate related artefacts to find out if Taylor and McCowan might have gone there for a tour.
“Yes,” the proprietor told me, “we have had several family parties visit us this week led by white males in their later 20’s. Yes, white males, speaking English—yes possibly even with Scottish accents.”
And this suggests that perhaps Taylor and McCowan were there to examine old-school raiding methods in order to refine their offshore operations—like a club monitoring changes in football tactics.
We reached out to a source at Ibrox, a former blogger who now works for another national title, and I asked for his view on what we had found, and whether or not he believed it might involve some infringement of sporting regulations and thus require some kind of SFA sanction.
“Well, obviously we are monitoring this situation,” he said, “because if the funds from these enterprises are being used to sign players then that’s obviously very serious. And since that club has resorted to all sorts of tactics in the past—like buying players really cheaply and selling them for lots of money and then buying them back for less than what they got for them—you have to conclude that they’re capable of anything.
“Look at how Tierney has just returned a mere handful of years after he left for a Scottish record transfer fee. Now you tell me that isn’t suspect—that there isn’t some kind of plot behind the scenes that explains that away. So piracy? Yeah, very possibly. I wouldn’t put it past them. And if that’s being used to fund the football operation, then obviously the SFA needs to investigate it immediately and consider relegating them to the lowest tier, just like happened to us when we’d done nothing wrong.”
McCowan has not been at Celtic long, but it’s obvious that you don’t have to be there for years to get sucked into their vast criminal nexus.
Taylor is on the way out, or so it seems, but his involvement in this scheme strongly suggests that the club retains a hold on certain people even after they’ve gone.
And so this calls into question whether other former players are really on holiday at all at this time of year—or if they’re also out leading raiding parties up and down the shores of the Indian Ocean and elsewhere, with all the proceeds being funnelled back to Celtic Park.
I called the club to put these shocking revelations to some of the senior figures there, and a member of the board—who would only allow us to identify him as “Peter”—appeared stunned when I suggested that some of his players may be involved in this.
“Pirates? Piracy? Are they the guys who are manufacturing all those knock-off DVDs which are costing us a fortune? I’ll have that looked into immediately. We can’t be letting that go on. Not when it affects my bonus.”
Days after forwarding him our dossier, this newspaper is yet to receive a response. That says it all. Celtic fans would be right to be concerned by this—considering the potential consequences for the club.
